I love Manhunter, just the right tone and scope that I imagine a novel of that stripe should be treated with, yet I think Red Dragon was a true adaptation done well. I'm curious as to the opinions around here.

Originally posted by No spoken words I never saw Red Dragon. I read it, and saw Manhunter and loved it. Laz can offer a real opinion shortly, one where he actually types things as opposed to my concise nonsense.

I like reading Laz's opinons but I also like reading concise nonsense, which is why I don't read Pitchfork Media, because it's not concise and as pretentious as William Hurt. That made no sense but I had to take a dig at William Hurt. Ever seen Kevin Spacey do William Hurt?=money. Kevin Spacey doing Matthau auditio9ning for Star wars on SNL=more money

I'm a big fan of the Harris universe, I've tossed a few wanks about Hannibal before, what it could have been etc. but I think Manhunter was fucking awesome. Interestingly, according to a few articles I've read (I've never seen an actual quote) Harris didn't like Manhunter.

I probably would have had Michael Mann's baby a few years ago. I've lost faith slightly. That said, he's in my top 3 or so directors.

I think there could be redemption here though. I'd hate to see this series die the horrible death of a dissappointment/remake/prequel. That's just sad.

The producer of these movies, Dino Delaurentis is a jackass.
He all but ran Jodie Foster off.

A couple things: Red Dragon wasn't that bad. It had a great cast (aside from Hopkins). Ralph Fiennes never ceases to amaze me with his versatility. And Brett Ratner didn't fuck it up as expected (you could say the same thing about his work on X3, actually).

However, Ratner isn't the auteur that Mann is, and made a far less-memorable film. While Manhunter is certainly dated, that's what happens when you're cutting edge in 1985.

I'll make a fairly bold statement here--Brian Cox as Lecter is FAR superior than Anthony Hopkins' ridiculous, mannered scenery-chewing. I'm not familiar with the books so I can't say if his portrayal is more faithful to the book, but the way he manages to come off normal at times makes it much more complex.

Of course, I also think Silence of the Lambs is one of the most overrated films in history. To me, it was too much shock value and not enough psychological insight. Clarice Starling wasn't even half the character that Will Graham was (William Petersen was just stellar), Dennis Farina was better than Scott Glenn as Crawford, etc.

It's pretty much superior in every way, not only to Red Dragon, but every other installment in this "series", which is basically Thomas Harris just whoring himself out for more money, however much he subverts audience expectation in Hannibal.